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Sunday, December 29, 2013

I'm going to do away with the pleasantries and dive right in as I suspect this is going to be a long post. You've been warned.

Last year ended with quite a bang with me attending a Carnatic kutcheri and a (large scale) music concert (that too ARR's) for the first time in my life. What an experience that was! So, naturally this year had a lot to do to outdo last year.

It started off slowly... work-wise.. same old project continuing from last year, some friends moving to other cities... +Apoorva Sripathi Don't forget us ;) and some friends from other cities moving in to Bangalore +Ashwini Poovaiah Hello, madam. And some wayfarers +vishesh unni raghunathan. New groups were formed, both physically and on (dreads mentioning the name for the fear of another deluge of spam) whatsapp. New friendships made :) And some lost :( More people from twitter met. Chennai visits put. Festivals celebrated. And being forbidden from celebrating any more for a year because of a death in the family. You know... the routine stuff.

Except... I started to learn French! No, not the swear words that we ask to be pardoned as french. Actual French. Française! Oui. À l'Alliance Française de Bangalore.

This was totally unexpected. After trying to enrol for German course and failing because of underestimating the demand for it and the limited number of seats, I was contemplating to not wait another 6 months and enrol for French in the meanwhile.After I heard that +Malvika Iyer was also going to enrol in the Chennai branch of AF, she induced more enthusiasm and contemplation turned into a decision and I didn't waste another moment. The very next day, I went to Alliance Française's office and enrolled myself. One of the best decisions this year. Although, later I got to know that +Malvika Iyer dropped the idea because she didn't get the time-slot that she wanted. Here's hoping she gets to join the next time around. This was a weekend course and I had set myself up for no weekend-getaways for the next 6 months. Not that I was a travelling all the time even otherwise but was planning to start. Never found the time, company or the money for it. Meh.

The spontaneous Coimbatore visit gave some impulse to rethink some of my priorities. Though the purpose of that visit wasn't fulfilled, it didn't matter.

Special mention - My chaddi buddy +Madana Prathap for being condescending as ever and pulling me back to earth when I floated away into the clouds. +Vinod E for the numerous attestations (Thanks to your Dad), for instances where I made you the driver. I owe you big time, brother. +Vinny Wilfred Though I've not seen you in a long time, here's to say that I still remember you :P All the best in the upcoming year, man :)

And how can I forget this crazy fellow +Rajagopalan Venkataraman. Thanks for the free accommodation that night, lifesaver. Welcome back to Bangalore. Here's to more good times.

One extra-special mention to my new NRI acquaintance who's now become a friend +divya Shivaram. Such a darling she was to carry my lightsabers all the way from UK and hand-delivered to me. Nandri hai very much. Can't wait to see you when you land soon :)

Big thanks to Twitter for helping me getting to know so many wonderful people.

What was different this year, though was toward the tail-end. As the last quarter of the year rolled in, it ushered in some new enthusiasm and hope about exciting times ahead and Boy! was it exciting. I was asked to come here to Bombay by my office as a leave replacement for a guy at the client's site. He was apparently going on leave for a month for his wedding. I wonder what he will do for that long.. won't he get bored? Anyway, I digress. After my old project came to an end in August and being on the metaphorical "Bench"ever since, I jumped at this opportunity. If you know me, you'll also know how much I wanted to experience staying alone independently. This was all expenses paid, company sponsored grant of my wish.

Before I started to Bombay, I promised myself that I'll not be my lazy self and explore Bombay and its surroundings as much as possible and I was keeping up that promise until I fell ill a couple of days ago, but I'm still satisfied with all the places and more importantly food that I got to cover in this trip. Made full use of the opportunity. I thank +Mirnalini Venkatraman and my French classmate Puja for being my virtual tour guides. Thanks a tonne for all the suggestions. Would've never been able to cover all those places if you hadn't mentioned it. If you follow me on facebook/twitter/instagram, you'd have seen all the spam photos from me. If any of you got annoyed by it, Sorry. There were people curiously asking about where all I'd been to and what all I had eaten. Fans, you see. :D Can't disappoint them, can you? I'm very happy with this new me who gets off his ass and goes places. Hoping this continues after I return to Bangalore too, although, there it'll be on my own money, not on-site allowance :(

Work here is a support based project which is mostly repeated stuff along with some documentation. Yeeeaah... you know the regular. Nothing very exciting, but it is serving me my bread & butter, or should I say Vada & Pav :P, so a shoutout to work - Yay! :D

Given my poor memory, I might've forgotten so many other incidents of significance. Please forgive me if you were the "turbines" behind those instances. :P (Started out as a retrospection and turned into a Thanksgiving post, so edited the title too. )

This year passed real quick like a flutter of a butterfly wing and it is coming to a close, and so is my Bombay trip. I'll be back to base.. to Bangalore in the first week of next year. Hoping to cover a few more places before that, if time permits. Unlikely, considering I'm working all days, including New year's and the following Saturday, but let's see. So, until then... have a super end to this year and let the next one be the best you've had so far!

Thanks for being so patient to read until this point.

A bientôt! Je t'embrasse.

Au revoir.

P.S. Yeah, I've actually been learning French. Not just for show off :P